We may fairly suppose it to have been the throne-room or great hall of audience of the early king who built the South-eastern Palace.
We have now to describe the most remarkable of all the Persepolitan edifices--a building the remains of which stretch nearly 350 feet in one direction, while in the other they extend 246 feet.

Its ruins consist almost entirely of pillars, which are divided into four groups.

The largest of these was a square of thirty-six pillars, arranged in six rows of six, all exactly equidistant from one another, and covering an area of above 20,000 square feet.

On three sides of this square, eastward, northward, and westward, were magnificent porches, each consisting of twelve columns, arranged in two rows, in line with the pillars of the central cluster.

These porches stood at the distance of seventy feet from the main building, and have the appearance of having been entirely separate from it.